Puerto Rican Veterans: Proud and Numerous, Yet Lacking Health Care

Posted November 11, 2016

More than 200,000 veterans of the U.S. armed forces live in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans have fought with U.S. armies since the Revolutionary War, and now send disproportionate numbers of men and women to the armed services.

Yet there is just one VA hospital in Puerto Rico. Veterans in Puerto Rico receive less medical care than those on the U.S. mainland. And these veterans cannot vote for their Commander in Chief.

As a territory, Puerto Rico is not accorded the same rights and privileges given to the States. The residents of Puerto Rico — 3.5 million U.S. citizens — do not have the same rights as U.S. citizens living in the States. But the men and women of Puerto Rico have, even before attaining U.S. citizenship in 1917, served valiantly alongside fellow Americans in the U.S. armed forces.

Remember, today, the many war heroes from Puerto Rico. Here are the stories of just a few of these patriots: